Another comparison with Montreal
Petition presses province to favour West Islanders over air travellers
4,700 signatures on a petition organized by Train de l'Ouest
By andy Riga, gazette Transportation Reporter September 9, 2010 2:02 PM MONTREAL - A group pushing for better West Island train service says it has so far collected 4,700 signatures on a petition urging Quebec to favour commuters over air travellers.
“Our target originally was 5,000 signatures, the same number as Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt presented for his train to the east of Laval,” said Georges Nydam, one of the organizers of the group, Train de l’Ouest.
“But reaction has been very positive, so we reached that objective in one and a half days of soliciting.”
The group has collected signatures via its website, traindelouest.ca, and at stations along the Vaudreuil-Hudson train line, run by the Agence métropolitaine de transport.
The group supports the AMT’s $786 proposal to build new dedicated tracks for commuter trains on the line.
It wants to boost commuter service to every 15 minutes during rush hour and every 30 minutes at off-peak hours, from 6 a.m. to midnight, between Ste. Anne de Bellevue and downtown’s Lucien L’Allier station.
Currently, service is spotty on Vaudreuil-Hudson, especially at off-peak hours, in part because the commuter train must share tracks with freight trains.
On Tuesday, Sept. 14, AMT chief executive Joël Gauthier is to meet with members of West Island and Vaudreuil city councils about his plan, Nydam said.
The group expects to present its petition to the National Assembly in early October.
On Sept. 23, the group says it will be at the Montreal agglomeration council meeting to lobby that body and the city of Montreal.
Montreal has come out in support of a different train plan, put forward by Aéroports de Montréal, the airport authority.
Saying efforts to come up with an airport train project that would also expand West Island commuter train service have come up short, Aéroports is promoting a $600-million plan that would only create an airport shuttle on new dedicated tracks.
It would require $200 million each from the provincial and federal governments.
That train would transport air travellers and airport employees non-stop between Trudeau airport and Central Station.
Aéroports has suggested that the AMT could piggyback on the airport train shuttle, adding tracks between the airport and Ste. Anne.
It says the AMT could continue to run trains to Lucien L’Allier, stopping at Montreal West and Vendôme; other “express” commuter trains could bypass those stations by taking the ADM’s train shuttle tracks to Central Station.
That would mean taking “advantage of both corridors and train stations for sufficient capacity and better customer service,” said Christiane Beaulieu, a spokesperson for Aéroports de Montréal.
But Train de l’Ouest says if governments spend $400 million on the airport train, nothing will be left for commuter service.
ariga@montrealgazette.com